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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Expansion and Contraction of Time

Time can be an elusive task master.

Sometimes it feels like the hours stretch out before me and I can accomplish so much, and the well of time is nearly unending. That is a bit of an exaggeration - but I do sometimes get a lot more done than I think I could. Or I wonder why I didn't complete the task before if I could do it in "X" amount of time.

Then other times I have blocks of precious minutes that just disappear. Sometimes it happens while I'm in the shower. Sometimes it happens when I finish dressing upstairs, grab my bags for the day to fit my schedule (backpack, teaching folder if I am, novel manuscript if I have writing time, lunch bag, workout clothes, and more), and walk down the stairs. I mean, really, it can be 15 minutes, 20 minutes: gone. There is no way it takes me 15 minutes to go down one little flight of stairs. But, the time is gone.

Right now I'm in a period where I feel I don't have enough time to do everything I have to do, or have committed to do. I have my video relay work, my regular interpreting work, I'm teaching one class, I'm working out twice a week with the trainer and doing at least another two to three days a week of walking or swimming, working on the novel and the memoir, another session of the Lit Star Training online course/workshop has begun, I'm doing an intensive weekend workshop. And I have about 30 hours of professional development streaming videos to watch, including some recordings of a specialty area I'm very interested in and am working to improve my skill (already paid for, just need to schedule them in).

And next month is NaNoWriMo.

Yes, it is. I will be calling up all the powers that be to engage Expando Time. I know I can do it. I have two days a week where I have set up writing times and a location to meet with whatever friends may be available. And I have set up November 11th to use the studio all day, since all of my work is not happening due to it being a federal holiday. And I will be going to San Francisco for the Night of Writing Dangerously; a 3 1/2 day trip funded my moi, but made possible by my friends and readers who generously donated money to the Office of Letters and Light so that I qualify as a participant.

Okay - I'm feeling time crunched and I'm taking on NaNoWriMo? Oh, yeah. Wouldn't miss it. And I will meet the 50,000 word mark. I will not set my number higher - that could easily be a set up for failure. But I will make the 50k with my brain as intact as it is now and I will have fun.

Get ready - NaNoWriMo is nearly here. And you can bet I will be writing about it along the way in that magic time zone where writing can always happen.

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Author: Dot Hearn

Creative Adventurer: I'm a writer who can often be found in cafes at odd hours with a latte and a laptop, or with pen and paper in the car between jobs. I'm a sign language interpreter whose passion is performance interpreting, which integrates years of theatrical experience, my creativity, and interpreting. I am also a writing facilitator and peer editor, performance interpreting mentor, and performance & literary event interpreting coordinator.